Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Squishy...

Dear JohnI happened on your web-site and blog and I had to quickly move elsewhere as I found myself entering a prison! You yourself put it so beautifully and powerfully well “Slavishly accurate Liturgical Translations”! What a pity it is to be a prisoner of accuracy and prisoner of the letter when we are called to be not “slavishly” but “LAVISHLY” and creatively free, open and awake enough to listen to the ever fresh daily rhythms of the Spirit who is beyond all boundaries and who as you know breathes where She wills! Be blessed John and may you know true freedom in the one who came to set us ALL free.Philip sj

I don't want to read too much into such a short comment, but it seems to me that Fr Philip fundamentally misunderstands the nature of Christian freedom. Veritas liberabit! The truth will set you free. Fr Zuhlsdorf does us a great service in unlocking the riches of the Roman liturgy, whilst talk of the ever fresh daily rhythms of the Spirit who is beyond all boundaries puts me on my guard... There are far too many squishy spiritualities that in their vagueness and solopism actually cushion us from the transforming power of the Word that cuts more finely than a double-edged sword.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Z, I'm with Fr Philip on this one. Its not FrZ's translations that gives me chills, those I truly appreciate. What is scary is the narrowly-constructed spirituality that seems to go along with it....my thoughts always end up turning to the woman in Jn 8, for example. Yes, we can drive off the road on the right or the left side..just because its the right side, doesn't mean we're any less wrecked!